Property Taxes

Dec. 31, 2018, was the deadline to pay property taxes to 44 different entities in Franklin County. So what’s new about that?

Nothing, except that it’s one indication of how the county has grown over the years.

Growth has many indicators with crime being one that is the most glaring and expensive.

Of the 44 taxing entities, 11 are municipalities, 11 are school and college districts, four are sewer districts, two are libraries, nine are fire districts, six are ambulance districts, and finally, one is the county itself.

The changing times had a major influence on the creation of some districts. Growth in the county’s unincorporated area was a major factor in the growth of taxing entities.

The many sales taxes being collected in the county resulted from growth also, chiefly in the county and municipalities — these entities no longer could get by with revenue from property taxes.

The residents who live in these taxing districts have benefited from services provided by the taxing entities. One of the most obvious results is safety. Fire and ambulance districts have raised the safety levels, for instance.

County residents live in more than one taxing entity — some live in several.

Like most counties, Franklin and its cities welcomed orderly growth, and it has many implications — more taxing districts is one of them.